Over 160,000 data-breach notifications have been made to authorities in the 18 months since Europe’s new digital privacy regulation came into force, and the number of breaches and other security incidents being reported is on the rise.

Analysis by law firm DLA Piper found that after the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force on 25 May 2018, the first eight months saw an average of 247 breach notifications per day. In the time since, that has risen to an average of 278 notifications a day.

“GDPR has driven the issue of data breach well and truly into the open. The rate of breach notification has increased by over 12% compared to last year’s report and regulators have been busy road-testing their new powers to sanction and fine organisations,” said Ross McKean, partner at DLA Piper, specialising in cyber and data protection.